Govt faces calls for redress review as man ends protest

THE GOVERNMENT was under pressure last night to review the workings of the Residential Institutions Redress Board after a 22-day-long hunger striker called off his Dáil protest.

Tom Sweeney, 57, had been on hunger strike outside Leinster House for more than three weeks, protesting that his original award of €113,000 by the Redress Board was reduced by €40,000 after he requested a full hearing.

The marathon protest garnered support from many abuse victims who claimed to have had similar experiences with the Redress Board and accused it of punishing those who wished to tell their stories.

Mr Sweeney called off his protest, after more than 24 hours of intense negotiations saw the Government agree to speed up a High Court hearing of his case.

Education Minister Noel Dempsey, in a statement released last night, said he was pleased the protest had ended.

“The Government has agreed to do everything in its power to expedite the hearing of the High Court case and it accepts that the case should proceed solely on the basis of assessment of damages,” he said.

Mr Dempsey also paid tribute to Deputies Charlie O’Connor and Conor Lenihan, who arranged meetings between Mr Dempsey and the four Dublin South-West TDs, which led to yesterday’s resolution.

Calling off his protest, Mr Sweeney said he only wanted to tell his story. “It was all down to me wanting to tell a story. I was asked to speak about nine years ago and I just wanted a fair hearing,” he said.

But abuse groups and opposition parties last night called for a review of the operations of the Redress Board.

One in Four spokesman Colm O’Gorman said the Government had to admit there was a problem.

“The Government will have to acknowledge there is a very grave difficulty with redress. They’re going to have to examine the detail of what brought everything to this stage.

“Tom got what he wanted and hopefully what he’s also done is focus attention on the real considerable failings in the Redress Board and now that will have to be looked at and examined,” he said.

But Mr Dempsey’s statement ruled out any review of the Redress Board and noted that “the integrity of the redress process has been maintained”.

Green Party Education spokesperson, Paul Gogarty, who was yesterday ordered to leave the Dáil after attempting to raise Mr Sweeney’s case, said he was glad the Government had finally acted.

“There is a wider issue in terms of a review on how the Redress Board operates because there are at least 800 people who would be tempted to take a similar approach,” he said.